Lay still, Steven, and I'll tell you a bedtime story. I'll tell you a bedtime storythat's not for all children. It's a very special story, that only special childrenwill understand. It's a half aware story, and it will be better if you close your eyes.It's a story that takes place in a dream, like other nightmares you have known. It's adream that Alice has dreamed. You can dream along with him. You can follow Alice down thestaircase, deep, down the stairs to the pit where he doesn't want to go, but he has to.

If you go to sleep now, Steven, you can go down the long and endless staircase and sing sweetsong to Alice and free him. And if you can't get to sleep, Steven and the middle of nightyou get out of bed, when everything is quiet and the trees are still and the birds are hiding fromthe dark, you can lay down on your bedroom floor and press your ear tightly to the boards.If you listen very carefully you can hear Alice searching for a way out, forever chasing rainbows.